In a repeat of their All England 2021 semifinal clash, the Dutchman downed Zii Jia 21-19 in the first game before the Malaysian, who turned professional in January, found his rhythm to win the next two games 21-13, 21-8 at the Westenergie Sporthalle.

World No 7 Zii Jia, who is seeded fifth, will take on Christo Popov in the second round tomorrow after the Frenchman ousted Israel’s Misha Zilberman 21-19, 21-18.

Meanwhile, top national women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah, who are seeded eighth, suffered an embarrassing first round exit after losing to the unseeded Julie Macpherson-Ciara Torrance of Scotland 17-21, 14-21.

Macpherson-Torrance will face another Malaysian pair, Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sen, in the next round.

Vivian-Chiew Sen defeated Estonia’s Kati-Kreet Marran-Helina Ruutel 21-15, 22-20 yesterday.

Professional men’s doubles pair and sixth seeds Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi survived a tense rubber game before finally subduing India’s MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapilla 21-13, 20-22, 21-19.

Yew Sin-Ee Yi will be up against Ben Lane-Sean Vendy next after the English pair trounced Alexander Dunn-Scott Hall of Scotland 21-16, 21-19.

Meanwhile, two Malaysian mixed doubles pairs – Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See and Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei – failed to get past the first hurdle.

Pang Ron-Yee See lost 21-18-21, 21-16 to Thailand’s Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran while England’s fifth-seeded Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith overcame Tang Jie-Yen Wei 21-12, 13-21, 23-21.

Supak-Supissara will meet Ellis-Smith in the second round tomorrow.